- Pole and victory for Nikolas Taylor to keep up title charge
- Fortec Motorsport on the pace throughout weekend in Norfolk
- Jessica Edgar out of luck on second visit to Snetterton
Fortec Motorsport secured pole position and a fifth GB4 Championship race win of the season in a feisty visit to the Snetterton 300 circuit last weekend (25/26 June) as Nikolas Taylor and Jessica Edgar kept the team in title contention.
It would be the second time this year that the Daventry squad visited the 2.9-mile Norfolk circuit, having claimed a win and pole position on their debut in the new-for-2022 GB4 Championship when it arrived back in April.
Victory that weekend went the way of Nikolas Taylor for the experienced team at the start of his rookie season, and the Fortec squad again looked set to shine with strong pace in testing in the run-up to the weekend’s main action as they chased to overturn their nine-point deficit at the top of the Teams’ Championship.
Attentions turned to Saturday’s quickfire qualifying session, with both Taylor and Jessica Edgar putting their Fortec cars inside the top four in the early stages. The former would lower the pace significantly in the closing moments with a time good enough to grab his third pole position of the season, beating Tom Mills by 0.25s.
The pair next set their sights on securing crucial points in the opening race later that afternoon. A good start for Taylor gave the Anglo-Malaysian teenager the best possible chance to achieve the team’s fifth win of the season, and he duly held off the chasing Jarrod Waberski to clinch the spoils with a cushion of almost two seconds. Edgar’s chances were instantly hindered by a shifting issue, but she battled through it to finish ninth.
Fortec again started on pole position the following day thanks to Taylor’s second-fastest time being sufficient enough, but the FIA F4 Development Driver had a fight on his hands immediately after falling to third on lap two, losing the lead at the start and surviving contact with Tom Mills at Riches a lap later. The pair went into battle as Taylor found pace, taking second with a bold move outside at Brundles, but unfortunate contact between the pair on the penultimate lap into the hairpin left the Fortec car in barriers with a puncture.
Edgar meanwhile finished a much more trouble-free eighth, and had the chance to add yet more silverware for the Fortec squad in the final race of the weekend by starting from pole position. A pitlane start for an electrical issue would be a gutting way to finish the weekend for Edgar however, who rejoined to finish the race ninth. Taylor had to fight from the rear of the field on this occasion, and carved his way up to sixth place in the early stages, taking the flag fifth.
Fortec Motorsport sit third in the Teams’ Championship after a victory at Snetterton, while Taylor is just nine points adrift in second in the Drivers’ standings as the GB4 Championship next heads to Silverstone in just over a month’s time on 30-31 July.
Oliver Dutton, Team Manager said:
“It was a weekend of mixed emotions for us, which started well. Qualifying and the first race of the weekend were both brilliant, and the pace we had was rewarded with another victory which put us on the road to good things. Unfortunately, race two didn’t go to plan for us, while Jessica was very unlucky to not be able to capitalise on her position in race three. We’ll come back strongly at Silverstone now, where we went so well earlier in the year.”
#17 Jessica Edgar
“It’s been a tough weekend and one where we didn’t really get the chance to get the results we wanted. I think we had a good chance in the third race but we didn’t get to start from pole. We’ll come back at Silverstone and try to get some good results again.”
#66 Nikolas Taylor
“Qualifying was amazing and the car’s been great. In the first race I just wanted to get a good start and lead into turn one, which is what I did. After that I tried to control it, and it was enough to come home for another win. Sunday didn’t go to plan, but we’ll learn from it and come out fighting at Silverstone.”
